WNBA Draft Lottery Set for Nov. 10

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2011 – The lottery to determine the top four picks in the 2012 WNBA Draft will be held Thursday, Nov. 10, in New York.

The Tulsa Shock, which posted a record of 3-31 this past season and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year, has the best opportunity (44.2 percent) to secure the top pick in the Draft, which will be held next April. In the 2011 Draft, the Shock used the No. 2 overall pick to select Australian center Liz Cambage.

The Minnesota Lynx, which, after winning the Lottery last year and using the No. 1 overall pick to select Maya Moore, earned their first WNBA championship, have the next best odds of winning the 2012 Lottery. Minnesota has a 27.6 percent chance of landing the top pick because it obtained the first round pick of Washington (6-28) after trading forward/center Nicky Anosike to the Mystics two days prior to the 2011 Draft.

The Chicago Sky, which posted a record of 14-20 this past season, and the Los Angeles Sparks (15-19) round out the Lottery-eligible teams. Chicago has a 17.8 percent chance of winning the top pick; Los Angeles a 10.4 percent chance.

WNBA officials and a representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young will conduct the Draft Lottery in New York City. The Lottery will establish the first four picks of the draft. The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third round is determined by inverse order of the teams’ respective regular-season records from 2011.

2012 WNBA Draft LotteryFourteen balls numbered 1-14 will be placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls will then be drawn to the top to determine a four-digit combination. The team that has been assigned that four-ball combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The four balls will then be placed back into the machine and the process will be repeated to determine the second and third picks. The team that does not win one of the top three picks will be slotted fourth.

There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. One thousand of those combinations will be assigned to the four non-playoff teams based on their order of finish in the 2011 regular season. The remaining combination will be unassigned. If the one unassigned combination is drawn, the balls will be placed back into the machine and the process will be repeated until an assigned combination is drawn.

The following are the number of chances for teams in the 2012 WNBA Draft Lottery:

LOTTERY TEAMS FOR 2012 WNBA DRAFT

Team

Record

Chances (out of 1,000)

1.

Tulsa

3-31

442

2.

Minnesota from Washington (Anosike – 4/8/11)

6-28

276

3.

Chicago

14-20

178

4.

Los Angeles

15-19

104

Following is the remaining order of the first round, as determined by 2011 regular season records:

REMAINING ORDER FOR FIRST ROUND

Team

Record

5.

San Antonio

18-16

6.

Phoenix

19-15

7.

New York

19-15

8.

Washington from Atlanta (L. Harding/T Phillips, K. Miller – 4/11/11)

20-14

9.

Connecticut

21-13

10.

Washington from Seattle (K. Smith, J. Monroe/J. Thomas – 4/29/11)

21-13

11.

Indiana

21-13

12.

Minnesota

27-7

About the WNBAThe WNBA – which features 12 teams and is the most successful women’s professional team sports league in the world – is a unique global sports property combining competition, sportsmanship, and entertainment value with its status as an icon for social change, achievement, and diversity. A fifth consecutive year of attendance growth, the highest ESPN2 viewership since 2005, increased viewership during the WNBA Finals, and the signing of a landmark multiyear deal with Boost Mobile as the first leaguewide marquee partner highlighted the WNBA’s 2011 regular season.

Through WNBA Cares, the WNBA is deeply committed to creating programs that improve the quality of life for all people, with a special emphasis on programs that promote a healthy lifestyle and positive body image, increase breast and women’s health awareness, support youth and family development, and focus on education. For more information on the WNBA, log on to www.wnba.com.